AusBonsai

As you may know I constantly get out of the car and go for a walk.
This, I found in not much more than a culvert by the roadside.
Have sought out the land-owner and begged permission without much objection.
When they know your plans for it, most are just amazed.
Hope the photos do this justice, but give this the success of an airlayer and followed some years later with some carving I see a great potential in this tree.
The tree is to my best knowledge of the Bauhinia Genus but exact species unknown, I don't have a flower but I think hookeri is pretty close.
So my first major air layering will happen out in a very exposed environment subject to floods, drought, invasion, and being eaten by goats.
I will put a "plug" in and a very big thank you to Ray Mackaway for his help thus far.
His book is en-route to me now.
I will ask the forum considering I am in NQ with an almost constant season of growth should this air-layer be attempted now.
My thoughts, put on the layer now and leave till late August early September when its likely to respond better and then take the tree off.
I can "attend" to the tree on four weekly basis as I travel up and down the coast so any maintenance and inspections can be carried out then.
The other problem I have had when attempting to air layer in the wild is ants encroaching into the moist interior, if any one has a theory on how to stop this , that would be good.
Love some thoughts
thanks for viewing
avagooweegend
Watty

Not sure if you've checked out my air layering escapade but I have just put a few layers on a tree in not dissimilar circumstances... No goats or floods though so I reckon that puts me ahead. I got a lot of advice from Ray, already had his books but if there is a question/problem/predicament when it involves air layering, he is your man, those books are a bible, you won't be disappointed.
Anyway, link to my thread is : viewtopic.php?f=9&t=19321

I can't really tend to it like I would hope and it was my first go at air layering (seems pretty close to what you plan), but the tree I did it on seems to be thriving and I hold hope for those layers. Good luck!

Ha! Just saw you had seen my thread as I finished typing on yours.

Ah watty9
You never cease to amaze me with your finds --- I have looked for a few years for these in the wild and have only ever seen a few
It is indeed a Bauhinia hookeri the other Australian Bauhinias have a bit bigger leaves and grow a bit bigger( or a lot bigger e.g.cunninghamii) .These trees or shrubs are native to your area and are the floral emblem of the great City of Rockhampton. They love the stoney and arid areas of Qld and the Northern Territory with high summer rainfall.
I have only ever bought established plants or grown them from seeds ( I have have two groups I will post photos tomorrow) so I can only tell you they handle repotting well and will handle bare rooting,they will grow in very little mix. They grow with strongly apical growth and will shoot in multiple places after pruning. The new growth is a delightful red colour. I urge all Ausbonsais to at least try one or two( or more)
I have no experience with air layering these but I would be tempted to dig it in July or August in your area.they don't seem to be root sensitive like other natives. So maybe have a dig around half the tree now and the other half in a few months and then dig him up in August
Keep us informed
Stevep

hi wattynine
here are a few photos unfortunately both were allowed to grow unhindered over summer to put on a bit of weight and i have only just given them a rough prune when this topic started
the group of 3 were bought from a nursery about 15 years ago
and the other group was started from seed about 5 or 6 years ago
both groups have been pruned fairly constantly over the years and it is only the last couple of years i have tried letting them have their head for a while and it it has seemed to work with ramification.
steve

So not good news but not anything within my power.
Not sure if I mentioned the owner of the property was in total agreement with what I was doing with the removal but when approached regarding the air-layering went totally cold. Maybe the access to his property over a period of time put him off, I don't know but it all went sour.
This bugged me and bugged me as to its progress so one day I went to have a look t it, I found it buried beneath a three foot deep sandbank due to a flood deposit. I only found it because two tiny "twiglets" (?) were poking up through the sand. All of the lovely deadwood was gone due to being buried in wet sand for a period of time. so collection was a waste of time anyway, shame I didn't get it when the time was right, could have been a lovely piece by now.
Watty